VivaConnect launches iVote, a product that empowers voting through a missed call

Voting plays a pivotal role when it comes to choosing our political leaders, favorite film stars & artists, reality show contestants, favorite brands and services, of which the traditional pattern has been visit to polling booths, filing nomination forms, posting mails and the more recent SMS voting.

New horizon
Considering the high paced lifestyle of the metropolitan and the reach barrier of the rural regions, many of these systems fell short on multiple levels. However, the picture seems to be brighter on the horizon, all thanks to the Mobile phone once again.Missed call voting system
Mobile phone technology has greatly revolutionised our activities and its latest dose comes in form of ‘Missed Call Voting System’. Finally a superior means to cast one’s valuable vote easily over mobile, that too without spending a paisa.

The Mumbai-based VivaConnect, India’s Largest Voice and Missed Call Company has launched iVote – A product that empowers voting through a missed call. In an interview, Vikram Raichura, Managing Director, vivaConnect speaks to Jayashankar Menonabout the ground breaking technology and more. Excerpts:

JM: How does mobile phone comes into the picture of voting?VR: A vote is highly valuable as it increases the credibility to a particular person or a cause. Hence two aspects are highly important, easy accessibility to voting mechanism and having maximum participation. So what better mode than a Mobile phone. We have built iVote, a product to handle national level voting over a missed call, Making it easier and free. It acts as a fair system of voting and easier for every section of society.

JM: Can you elaborate on iVote?
VR: iVote is powering voting for ZEE Cine Awards 2014, World’s Biggest Viewer’s Choice Awards (ZCA). VivaConnect has joined in as an official voting partner for the event as ZCA 2014 puts the viewers in the judge’s seat to award the stars of the film fraternity. Viewers across India are requested to give a missed call over 1800 103 7788, which is followed by them receiving a voice call to cast their vote. A smooth IVR system takes the caller through different categories and the nominations and registers votes by inputs through keypad. Just within few hours of going live, the lines have been flooded with votes from urban to rural audiences of India. Yet this is just one case, iVote is beneficial for brands to know public opinion over products, conducting surveys by new channels, interactive contests and more. With this product uplifting power of every individual, we can certainly foresee a day where our ministers too shall be chosen casting a vote over mobile.

JM: Please talk about VivaConnnect and its business interests…VR: VivaConnect is India’s leading Mobile Marketing Company having the largest Non-VAS infrastructure for Voice and Missed Calls besides SMS, Email and Mobile App Development. Established in 2001, we enable businesses to reach, engage and analyse our consumers across the mobile horizon, powering billions of interactions till date. We also manage a daily traffic of 15 million outbound calls through our pool of over 800 PRI’s. We ideate, develop, and deliver ‘Awesome’ mobile marketing initiatives and experiences for brands, television networks and enterprises by meeting the ever-changing and diverse customer needs on our most preferred device, the Mobile.

JM: Can you name few of your clients?VR: Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, Eureka Forbes, Zee Cine Awards to name a few.

JM: What is your company’s vision?VR: Our vision is in sharing the marvels of communication to make a million business prosper. VivaConnect provides solutions that requires zero literacy, zero cost and zero balance (over mobile/telco platform). We have a passion to create tools that facilitate communication’s ecosystem over mobile phone. As of now, mobile phone, as it is, is the preferred mode of the customer.

JM: What, according to you, is the key to success?

VR: We believe exploration is the key to success, hence we explore to create better products, better user experiences for better technology and possibilities that come with every challenges.

JM: What according to you is the biggest contributing factor towards VivaConnect’s growth?VR: The biggest contributing factor towards our growth is our playful culture and attitude that allows evolving with time and doesn’t restrict ourselves. We create products that gives consumer a WOW experience. We contribute to business and individual’s through our platforms such as mobile apps, voice, missed calls and SMS on mobile. We work with customers on the consultative model wherein we engage and interact with them to understand their process, objectives, requirements and accordingly ideate, create and deliver solutions.

JM: Can you throw some light on your company’s tagline: ‘Your Business Raised to the Power of Infinity’?VR: Our tagline reflect our belief that there are infinite possibilities available to grow business as we contribute to it through mobility. VivaConnect’s solutions empower from masses to classes, i.e. Tring! Tring! Customers to Tap! Customers thus breaking all kinds of barrier. We believe in living the future Now and not just dreaming it. We differntiate ourselves by How we do it and not what we do it. Our solutions produce 20X results and 5X lower cost compared to televisin and print media.

JM: Are you always open towards adding new technologies and platforms to your products and solutions?VR: Yes, we believe that mobile sepectrum has opened a while new era of opportunities across the verticals. With the kind of products VivaConnnect is developing, it will have more than a million users globally by next two years. Among SMBs, we work with retail, small financial companies, manufacturing and NGOs. We are currently witnessing higher demand for mobile marketing solutions from business and brands for reaching both rural and urban India.

JM: Right now, how many SMBs VivaConnnect serve?VR: Currently, VivaConnect serves in excess of 100 SMBs and an estimated 6,000 users.

JM: Can you talk about the accolades VivaConnect has bagged so far?VR: VivaConnect is a recepient of prestigious awards including Red Herring Top 100 Asia 2012, Top 100 Small Business 2011 and the Best SME (E-Commerce) at CNBC Emerging India Awards 2009.